Where's Hawaii???

Today, Kaelyn was sitting in the kitchen while I was cooking. She said, "Mommy, Where's Hawaii?"

Uh, How do you tell a two year old where Hawaii is? I said, it's out in the ocean. In the middle of the water. It's an island.

She said, "Well, can Santa get there?"

I have NO idea why she even knows the word Hawaii, let alone wanting to know where it is. She never ceases to amaze me!

Let it Snow (As Long as I don't have to drive:) )

We had some snow on Christmas, and then quite a bit on the 26th. The kids were thrilled! It was a lot of fun to play with friends in the snow! I really like the picture of our house in the snow.

Trying on glasses

For Christmas my sister Erica bought me new glasses. The girls and I had a lot of fun with her trying on lots of different styles and colors. We realized that Kaelyn and my sister look really good in glasses...actually any glasses! We also realized that I either have a crooked nose or crooked ears, either of which makes many glasses look very lopsided on my face. Anyway, she talked me into some new glasses, and I'm excited to get them in a couple of weeks. Thanks Erica!

Christmas Time is Here

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this Christmas.

Happy 40th Birthday Tim!

I know this is a little out of order, but we celebrated Tim's 40th on the 22nd! We had a great party with many friends and family. So, in honor of his Birthday, 4o things I appreciate or love about Tim.

1. He loves me.

2. He is a fantastic father.

3. He loves the Lord.

4. He is real.

5. He has a great smile.

6. He loves the outdoors.

7. He loves to mow.

8. He is a good friend.

9. He has a funny sense of humor.

10. He is a great teacher.

11. He is very giving.

12. He likes lefse:)

13. He is good at b.b.q.ing

14. He loves my family.

15. He likes to play Barbies.

16. He understands my phobia.

17. He sings in the shower.

18. He takes Kaelyn to day care in the morning.

19. He is consistent.

20. He enjoys going to movies on Christmas Eve.

21. He loves his Grandma.

22. He knows our home is a gift.

23. He takes good care of our yard.

24. He is patient with our kids.

25. He reads books to our kids.

26. He knows a lot about computers.

27. He gets good deals.

28. He deals with conflict.

29. He doesn't complain about my cooking.

30. He will watch romantic comedies with me and like them.

31. He trusts me.

32. He will drive me in the snow.

33. He takes care of the cars.

34. He likes to watch Seahawks and Mariner games

35. He sees our kids as a priority.

36. He has a ministry at church.

37. He is great at making whipped cream.

38. He has a sweet and tender side.

39. He loves his family.

40. He sees a gift in every day!

Happy Birthday Tim! I love you!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are so blessed. Our family had a wonderful day complete with Santa's arrival, presents, more presents, naps, and finishing off with Jesus' birthday cake! What a great day. We even had a little snow in the middle of the day...enough to give my mom a panic and say we had a White Christmas!

Kaelyn still isn't convinced that Santa actually came to our house because she never saw him. Apparently she sees no point in being excited about someone coming to your house if you don't get to hang out with them...point well taken! She was very excited about the presents though.

Kathryn was thrilled with everything! She did the best dance ever when she opened her Hannah Montana doll and her High School Musical c.d. She got the movie last week (an early present that kept her entertained while Erica and I made lefse) and LOVES it.

My favorite gift was actually the handprint that Kathryn made me in kindergarten. There was something so wonderful about seeng her precious little hand. The song we had sung at her dediication was "The Fingerprints of God". When I looked at her little hand, I was reminded of the awesome gift that God has given me to be her mother!

Tim's favorite gift I think were his Crocs. Which is actually hilarious becuase Kaelyn told him he was getting them--Apparently two year olds don't keep secrets very well! His Crocs have a fur lining for the winter that can be removed for the summer!

We had a great day. I am so thankful for Christmas...I'm excited about my new camera too...but mostly for my family. Thank you Jesus for your ultimate gift!

Merry Christmas!

O Christmas tree part 2

Here is the picture of the girls in front of the tree. I really like our tree this year. I added some ribbon for the first time (thanks Jill!) and I really like it. We had over 60 people here for a progressive dinner last night which was amazing! Many people thought it was actually an artificial tree! Anyway, it's been fun to have a great room in our house because we enjoy the tree and the village all the time!

O Christmas Tree!

We did get our tree last weekend. We actually had attempted it the week before, but the farm had very few tall trees, and we left soaked without a tree. So...trial number two came last weekend in the sun! It was a gorgeous day. We took our neighbors kids Dustin and Tesa with us too, and they picked out their tree.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

We went to see Santa today...such fun! I wasn't sure how Kaelyn would react, and actually Kathryn was a little nervous too. But, wiht a little coaxing they both were excited to see him. Kaelyn didn't smile until he did the candy cane race, but she at least looked at the camera, which for her stage right now is remarkable! I'm lucky to get her look at the camera right now. My mom came with us too, and her dog Saylor.

Kathryn told me that what she asked Santa for as a surprise, I'd have to wait and see until Christmas morning...hmmm! I guess we'll have to see! Kaelyn clearly told him a baby doll which is not surprising...in fact, it's the same thing she asked him for last year too!

Setting up the Village

The Girls and I have been working on setting up our Christmas Village this week. It was so much fun this year becuase they were so excited to pull out the various buildings, and light them up. Kaelyn was so excited to be a part of it, and remarkably she was pretty careful with everything. We listened to Christmas music and set up the whole thing...now we're ready for Tim to put on the snow!

Prayers for our Friend Matt

Our friend Matt has been in the hospital this week undergoing tests and a blood transfusion after not feeling well, and becoming very ill. He has since had a bone marrow draw. We are praying that the results will show that it is a virus, and that he will be better very soon. They have been told that the results will not be back until next Friday, and we are praying for good news. Matt and his wife Jackie have a six year old son, a four year old daughter and twin one year old babies. Please pray for healing and peace for Matt and for sleep, strength, and peace for Jackie.
Thank you!

The First Snow

We had our first snow of the year, and our first in the new house. It's beautiful!

Unfortunately, as I was driving the kids back from a birthday party last night, (And for most of you who know me, you know that I don't choose to drive in the snow!) the kids and I got crunched by a yellow cabbie coming down the hill WAAAYYY too fast. We are fine, although the car is not. After careening into us, he continued to swerve and spiral out of control until he finally stopped after crashing through a neghbor's fence.

In this process, some VERY nice neighbors close to the accident site invited us in, and entertained the girls until we could figure out what to do. They even went across the street and down the hill to get all of the information for me so that I didn't have to leave my kids. They were so caring. They also offered to drive us home.

In the time from when the accident happened until Tim could get to us, about 2 or 3 inches of snow fell...which may not seem like a lot, but getting up the hills to our house it seems like a ton. It was amazing how fast the snow hit. We had some before we left for the party, but then it stopped snowing, and we had nothing on the roads. Well, we left the birthday party, and although it was snowing, the roads were still clear...until I got about 3/4 of the way up the hill and apparently it was sticking.

Lesson learned: It's still not a great idea for me to drive in the snow!

We've Been Elfed

We were sent this link today, and had a lot of fun creating new videos. Hopefully this link will work...I tried to link it directly, but I don't know how. So....we''ll try it this way!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9576460787

Enoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm Thankful...Yes, truly Thankful!

My children are both in bed, (both of them have been sick this week, and Kaelyn was up all night last night.) I now have had a few moments to contemplate on Thankfulness, and these are my thoughts....

When it comes to being thankful there is so much for me to be,
I am surrounded by those who love me and have blessings all around me.
My children's laughter fills the air and I have a front row seat,
They share their hearts and love so freely, they make me feel complete.

I have a wonderful house where we can daily be,
But the house becomes our home when I'm with my family.
I have a job that I love touching lives one heart at a time,
Teaching little children makes me feel blessed and so alive.

I'm thankful for the greatest gift from God the Father above,
Who sent His Son to die for us, the ultimate gift of LOVE.
I love to hear my children pray and know that Jesus is near,
For Jesus lives inside of us when we ask Him to be here.

I'm thankful for the sunsets and the water all around.
I'm thankful for the roses and the trees so green and brown.
My friends are so important, I'm thankful for each one,
I'm thankful for their listening ears and time to spend in fun.

My heart wells up with Thanfulness when I can stop and think
Of all the blessings in my life, I think I'm on the brink
Of discovering the gift that each day brings to me.
To release the sadness,and the stress or frustrations that may be.

Each new day is a brand new day to experience joy and love.
I want to see each daily gift and know what it's made of.
So I'll take some time out of each day to stop and say, "come look!"
For blessings abound and I'm filled with joy. I'm Thankful for this time I took!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful.

Learning to Wink

While we were waiting to get the oil changed the other day my kids were trying to learn to wink. It was so funny! I think it's so interesting to think of the learning that happens in our lifetime. Tying shoes, blowing bubbles, and of course winking!

Off To Grandma's House!

My kids have been so excited to go to my mom's house! They have been counting down the days to Sunday. They will be there until Wednesday unless Grandma decides to bring them back on Tuesday:)
They packed their bags, and Kaelyn was so mad that we had to go to church this morning, because it was Sunday and she was going to Grandma's! She packed ALL of her underwear which mommy traded out for some pants and shirts.
Kathryn is excited to bake cookies...my mom lets them make the roll out kind with cut outs and sprinkles. I typically go for the drop cookies, so Grandma's cookies are fun for them to bake!
They have been so excited...until I went leave my mom's today. At that point Kathryn freaked out, and then proceded to cry that she wanted me for over an hour. I honestly can't remember the last time she cried when I left her...talk about heart wrenching. Well, she called me a few minutes ago to tell me she had eaten 3 bowls of mac and cheese, milk, applesauce, cereal, and carrots. Apparently she was Starving! Lesson learned. She''s back to her "happy to be at Grandma's house self!"

A Funny Memory From the Pumpkin Patch

I was just remembering something funny that happened at the pumpkin patch. I had taken a picture...but unfortunatley they are gone...so here goes the picture from my mind...

We were getting ready to leave and Kathryn needed to use the bathroom. There was a lovely green port a potty out in front. Kathryn headed over there, but then abruptly stopped. She looked at the side of the building and there was a No parking sign on the side. It was the kind with the P inside of a white circle with a slash through it.

She said, "Oh no mom. I can't go in there!" I said, "Why?"
She said, "Because look. It says there's no Pee allowed!"

It took a while to convince her that it was safe to use the bathroom, they just didn't want people to park next to it. Eventually I guess she believed me.

It was so cute! She is such a rule follower...so much like her mother at times. But it was definitely a cute story!

Halloween!

About five weeks ago, we found costumes on sale. Kathryn wanted to be Tinkerbell, and Kaelyn wanted to be Snow White. We came home tried the costumes on, and prepared for the day. Fast forward to the 30th. Kathryn is trying on her costume so that everything was ready for school the next day. She reported, I don't want to be Tinkerbell. I don't like this costume. Well, I could have argued the point, but instead I said, what do you want to be? Well, I think a butterfly. I processed that for a moment and decided, O.k. So she was a butterfly at school. (I got to go help at her party too which was a great treat!) That night, when we got home, we realized that she had left the leotard at day care...GREAT! Well, she was completely unphased and decided she would rather be a cheerleader anyway. So...here you have it, a cheerleader and Snow White! I guess Tink goes into the dress up box. We went trick or treating in the cul de sac, and then up to a fantastic carnival and trunk or treating at our church. We had a great time!

The Car is in the Garage!!!!!

Halloween, Pumpkins, and Carnivals Oh My!

We had such a busy week last week, I haven't had a chance to Blog. We had a gorgeous day here last Tuesday, so we headed to the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, we have no pictures because the camera I borrowed, deleted them somehow...we haven't been able to figure it out. If we find them I'll post.

Anyway, there was a hilarious goat there that was up on a ramp on the top of a second story barn ledge. You could buy feed from a gumball machine, put it into a cup, and the goat knew to pull it up the pulley system and eat it. It was hilarious!

The kids each picked their pumpkins--Kathryn was searching for one as big as her, and Kaelyn was COMPLETELY amazed at the fact that there were green pumpkins in the patch. I really thought we might be going home with a green one, but she decided on an orange one at the end. I actually thought a green pumpkin would have been interesting!

The trip was topped off with HUGE ice cream cones from the little farm store.

The kids had a great time this year carving pumpkins. Kaelyn loved pulling the guts out, and I really think Kathryn's favorite part was coloring the parts of pumpkin that Tim cut out to make a face.